The number of complaints filed against Suffolk police is below the national average – but the force has accepted it needs to respond to them quicker.

A new report reveals that in 2020/21, there were 401 complaint cases logged against the force, which is 165 per 1,000 employees, below the national average of 290 per 1,000.

In Essex, there were 1,778 complaints made against police – 289 per 1,000 members of staff.

The figures are revealed in a report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

In terms of the time taken to log complaints, both Suffolk and Essex were again below the national average of six days. Police in Suffolk took on average just two days to log complaints while Essex Police took five.

However, Suffolk Constabulary fell behind the national average in relation to the number of days it took for the force to contact complainants, taking on average nine days to speak to the person logging a complaint, while nationally it took just seven.

Head of professional standards for Suffolk Constabulary, Detective Superintendent Tracey Maria-Little said: “Our professional standards team are a high performing team and work extremely hard to ensure all complaints are dealt with as expeditiously, thoroughly and as professionally as possible.

“Members of the public can express dissatisfaction with the service they have received from the police for a variety of reasons.

“The force endeavours to resolve any complaints in the most appropriate way to the satisfaction of the complainant and where the service has fallen below the standard expected we will offer an apology.

“By their very nature, investigating complaints can be a complex and lengthy progress depending on the seriousness and we regularly review the performance of PSD and seek to make improvements to our processes where it is felt appropriate and necessary.”